CCD Image taken at 4:20 UT on Feb 6, 2005 using an SBIG STL-1301E
camera thru Kopernik's 20 inch F/8.1 telescope. The
exposure was 12 minutes. North at top; the field of view is about 13x12 arc
minutes. The 1998 image is a 10 minute exposure with an SBIG ST-6 camera.

Supernova 2005 U:

Galaxy
Pair NGC-3690 (Arp 299):

These
two galaxies (NGC 3690, Arp 299, IC 694?) in Ursa
Major are a colliding or merging pair that are a strong radio and infrared
source.They are a chaotic mix of
intense star forming regions and dust clouds with no disk-like structure. This
is one on the most intense star burst systems known. H. Arp included this
galaxy pair in his catalog of
oddly shaped galaxies as Arp 299.

NGC 3960 - Arp 299 has been host
to perhaps six Supernovae in the past decade: 1990al, 1992bu, 1993G, 1998T,
1999D, and now 2005U. Supernova 1993G (Type II), 1998T (Type Ib/c), and 1999D (Type II) have been spectroscopically
classified; the other two possible Supernovae (1990al and 1992bu) have been
identified only in the radio and infrared, respectively.

Which Galaxy is
IC-694?

IC 694 was discovered by Swift
in 1893. His discovery description reads "close double with NGC 3690 =
object 247 of list I of Sir William Herschel. Suspected at 132x magnification,
verified at 200x." In the Index Catalogue of
Nebulae (IC; Dreyer 1895) this becomes "very small, forms double nebula
with no. 247 of list I of Sir William Herschel." The position for IC 694
is given as 11:20:44 +59:20 (epoch 1860) in the IC, while the NGC position for
NGC 3690 is 11:20:45 +59:19; i.e., IC 694 lies approximately 1 arc minute to
the northwest of NGC 3690. This seems to be pretty conclusive evidence that IC
694 refers to the spheroidal galaxy MCG 10-17-2A. However, Dreyer remarks in
the introduction to the IC that Swift's positions are "generally reliable
within one or two minutes of arc, but larger errors occur occasionally."
We also learn from Dreyer that Swift's observations were taken through the
16-inch refractor at Rochester
Observatory. Since the spheroidal galaxy is 3 magnitudes fainter than either of
the disk galaxies, is it even possible for Swift to have seen it? If not, is it
likely that he simply resolved NGC 3690 into two separate condensations of
nearly equal luminosity, adding a separate catalogue entry for the second
system? Recent attempts to repeat these observations with similar-sized
telescopes by amateur astronomers suggest that (1) the second light
concentration that we now associate with Arp 299 East
is very easy to discern as distinct from Arp 299 West and (2) the spheroidal is
indeed a very difficult, but not impossible object. Combined with the correct
relative position of IC 694 given by Swift, it seems that there is strong
evidence that IC 694 properly designates the northwest compact spheroidal.
However, since these observations were made with prior knowledge of both the
existence and location of the northwest spheroidal, this confirmation is not
entirely independent. It is also possible that Swift actually saw barred spiral
galaxy MCG 10-17-5.

Starting with Vorontsov-Velyaminov in 1959 modern professional
astronomers began referring to the eastern member of the Arp 299 pair as
“IC-694”, and this identification is used in most scientific papers.Sulentic & Tift
(1973) concluded that "any further question as to which objects Dreyer was
referring to can only be of historical interest."